


I'll Be Ducked

by rotrude



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drabble, Ducks, First Meetings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 12:44:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6195604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rotrude/pseuds/rotrude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written in response to @daftfandomtho's prompt on tumblr: 'ducks'. Merlin saves a badling of ducks and meets Arthur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Be Ducked

Merlin is late, so very late, so he pedals faster. The wheels creak as does the entire body of the bike. It's a strident noise, a rusty clanking of the chain and a whiny hissing of ill-oiled clamps. As he streaks onwards, the wind cutting at his face, he winces and swears to himself he'll fix his bicycle as soon as viably possible. For now, though, he just needs to make it to the office in one piece and possibly – hopefully – in time. God, today of all days his alarm had to fail him. Bloody old- fashioned clocks, pretty to see, with a charm of their own, but fuck it, they're not functional. 

He's veered into the park lane that coasts the pond, when a family of ducks – an older specimen with a few tawny ducklings in tow – starts crossing the road, one filing after the other in quaky slow-motion.

Upon sight of them, Merlin turns the handlebar sharply left, then, when he comes onto an icy patch, sharply right. The chain snaps: the cranks groan. By then his wheels have completely lost traction and started to spin freely. 

Out of control, the bike careens forward, slicing diagonally across the frosted path. Knowing he's being propelled straight toward the pond, Merlin brakes hard, but his bike doesn't slow. If anything it fends the air at unconscionable speed.

“Watch out,” someone shouts from the sides. 

Without glancing towards them, Merlin squeezes the brakes but the bike storms on and capsizes him right into the pond. 

Air punches out of Merlin's lungs. His back smarts in waves that start at his tail bone and end at his nape and water laps at his back and legs, chilling them till he's one mass of gooseflesh.

“Crap, shit, bollocks,” Merlin mutters, before clenching his jaw against a bout of teeth clacking. “Fuck it.”

Wet to the bone, spine and elbows aching in fits and starts, Merlin tests his range of movement. Gingerly, he rotates his legs outwards. Then he stretches one arm at a time. Since he can feel no other pain beyond the subtle back throb he's already experiencing, he gathers he's broken no bone. Well, good. Small mercies. Now he'll be irretrievably late, but at least he won't have to indulge in an A&E stop. 

The shock of the impact subsiding, Merlin blinks. When he opens his eyes, he comes face to face with a stranger. He's handsome in an almost brash way. There's no other word for it. He's sharp-jawed and keen-nosed, with almond shaped eyes and blond hair that fringes his forehead in breeze-tousled strands. He radiates some kind of self-possessed charm that sits with ease on him. He is, in short, hot.

When Merlin lets out a breath at the vision, the man's forehead creases with concern. “Hey, are you all right, mate?”

“Yes,” Merlin's heart kicks in his ribcage and his breath stutters to a quasi halt in his lungs. “Yes, now I am.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [ART: Fowl Play](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6199288) by [LFB72](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LFB72/pseuds/LFB72)




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